True Heroes Read Free

this up.’ Her hand rubbed against his bare skin and sent a warming wave of confusion throughout his body. ‘Girls are weird, but that still feels really, really good,’ he thought. “You should be more careful with how you insult Neanderthals like him. I won’t always be around to save your little hide.”
                  Caleb smiled, glad to feel some of the tension within him go away, and responded, “Hehe. Funny thing is I called him the same thing. I’m not sure he knows what that word means.”
                  She laughed a sweet laugh that had the same harmonic perfection as some people did when they sang their hearts out. He watched with amazing interest as her hand moved her bangs out of her face and uncoiled slowly back down to her side. Such a simple motion was made elegant with her as the medium, and Caleb couldn’t turn away. Her voice broke his haze of interest slightly. “So, um, what was up earlier when you got off the bus? You looked pretty dizzy or something with all that stumbling you were doing.”
                  The memory of those few seconds when he had no control sobered him of her infectious drug immediately. ‘I can’t ever forget about those times I lost control and hurt something.’ “It’s kinda weird. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but it happens sometimes just when I run around a lot, or when I get upset.”
                  She smiled slightly despite his seriousness. “Well, I think you should try to describe it for me. Please?”
                  Caleb may as well have been putty in her hands; she could’ve asked him to go play in the middle of the street and all Caleb would’ve wondered is what game she meant. Because of this, his mind wouldn’t think for him. Words, however, found a way to roll off his tongue as if they were coming from another, living, thinking part of his body. “When that happens to me, it feels like someone has taken a blindfold off my eyes. Like I can finally see the world for what it really is and what happens behind what I see every day. I feel like I can reach those things through my strength and vision alone, but like I said, I have no idea why it’s like that.”
                  Caleb allowed his eyes to wander for a bit before looking back up to Carol. He noticed her surprise was like she hadn’t expected such a scenic answer from someone his age and she couldn’t quite articulate an answer to follow it. Her green eyes seemed lost at sea—not entirely sure how to proceed with the conversation while seemingly probing his soul for truth and validity. She blinked away their eye contact and responded finally. “Wow that sounds like something anybody would want to experience. How about you show me sometime?”
                  “Um, well, um, maybe when I figure out how it works—”
                  “Caroline Allison Edwards! In this house, now!”
                  An older lady sporting an incredibly bright blue Moo-Moo with neon-color flower patterns was waving and shaking her hand from one of the sardine-packed houses across the street. Carol seemed a bit embarrassed—‘Irritation and fidgety hands,’—by her calling, but Caleb couldn’t appear happier to divert attention away from his stammering words. She waved a little and readjusted her backpack before addressing Caleb again. “I guess I’ll see you at school sometime, Caleb.” ‘She knows my name? How’d that one happen?’ She turned and ran off towards her impatient caller as Caleb stayed in that question until after she’d gone. “Hey Caleb!”
                  He spun on his heels at Carol’s heavenly tone. “Yeah?”
                  “When you figure out that feeling, I’m the first one you tell, okay?”
                  Caleb smiled a different kind of smile, not fueled by a chuckle or a passing necessity, but given a